To continue the PRAISE program, a collaborative project between SEAQIS and the Australian Science by Doing Centre, SEAQIS conducted a workshop to develop student and teacher books from June 11 – 13 2014. It was attended by 13 people comprising writers, editors, designers and advisors.
The books produced were science resources for students and teacher guide books covering four basic competencies for semester one Grade 8. The books will later be reviewed by experts, students and teachers and updated to accommodate feedback. To enhance teachers’ abilities with inquiry method delivery and to familiarise them with the books before their implementation, a series of in-service teacher workshops has also been designed.
The first will invite science teachers from the previous project to participate in teacher preparedness sessions prior the piloting phase. They will be given materials on the inquiry approach and then during the second workshop they will have the opportunity to discuss any obstacles or issues which arose during the implementation. The third workshop will be conducted after the completion of the piloting phase in order to evaluate the implementation process and for teachers to be able to provide feedback and suggestions.